where do you all buy your fabrics from?

[bodiddly]

A bit of a cheeky question really but wanted to pick your brains as to where you go to buy fabrics for arts and craft projects. I asked about this a long, long time ago and never got round to doing anything about it. I have piles of left over fabrics from an interior design/curtain/upholstery shop that I have inherited and want to sell. Some are worth a few pennies and others are really expensive fabrics. I am not looking to make a fortune but do need to raise some funds at the moment so the time has come to get off my backside to get rid of them! I have looked on ebay but not many seem to have bids against them and I dont really want to spend days and days measuring each piece, identifying the brand, weighing them for postage and bunging them on ebay only to find its all for nothing! I also considered doing a car boot sale but can't imagine I would sell more than a couple of pieces. Does anyone have any ideas or can suggest where I could sell them. I would consider doing them in batches or as a job lot to be honest! Thanks for any advice in advance.

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Perhaps you could bag them as assorted offcuts and sell on e:bay, say small, medium and large bags and aim the sales at people who make quilts for example. Then you'd only need 3 different prices and you could bag them in your own time.
I bought a bag of assorted ribbons from Baker Ross for about £3.00 and really pleased I did. Also I wanted to buy some fabric suitable for patching up clothes but couldn't find anything cheap enough.

I wondered about doing something like that but most of them are between 1 and 4m .. some even more! They would be pretty big bundles!

I think ebay is the best place, or possibly Etsy if they are more like quilting weight fabric (lighter than curtain fabric, probably). If they can be used for quilting, you might be better off selling them for £1 per fat quarter or something like that, as people often search by fat quarter on Ebay, I believe.

I would only do bundles of the smaller cuts, the rest I would list individually as yardage.

I think ebay is the best place, or possibly Etsy if they are more like quilting weight fabric (lighter than curtain fabric, probably). If they can be used for quilting, you might be better off selling them for £1 per fat quarter or something like that, as people often search by fat quarter on Ebay, I believe.

I would only do bundles of the smaller cuts, the rest I would list individually as yardage.

thank you - I guess I need to get on and start measuring, photographing and weighing in that case! Excuse my ignorance but how big is a fat quarter? Most of the fabrics are heavier weight than the sort of thing I would imagine for quilting .. though not all.

i think you will find some people interested in cushion sized cuts especially if they are very nice fabrics. you could try a few listed individually and a few in small bundles if you have matching fabrics. you may have to experiment. make sure you state that you have loads more coming up for sale soon so people hremember to have a bit more of a look at your listings.

thanks moocowme!

A fat quarter is a quarter of a yard, but instead of being cut across the width of the fabric (and being long and skinny) it's a half yard cut across the length then cut down the centre (so a more squat rectangle).

Definitely a good way to cut quilt weight fabric, then list on Etsy.

I often go hunting for small scraps - doesn't sound like that's what you have though. Come in very useful for patchwork and applique.

With the heavier weight pieces you'd definitely need to keep them as larger pieces.

Let us know when/where you list them - will definitely take a look as am always interested in fabric...

ebay has loads
anything over a half a metre you could sell in one piece unless its not very interesting
bundles of co-ordinating fat quarters would go well for quilting

thank you! will do snickersnack .. whereabouts are you? I am in south herts/north London - if you are nearby you are more than welcome to take a look!

there is a craft / farmers market near me & there is a stall there that sells fat quarters of fabric - may be worth looking into any craft markets local to you?

Just seen your location, check out Duck Pond Markets, Ruislip & Harrow do craft, not sure about watford.

Not sure how much they sell mind.

thank you MrsDimples ... will have a look at those. I cant remember seeing a craft market around here but I am sure there must be at some point!